Xu Qi An’s face froze, and his heart felt as if it had been hit by a tidal wave, causing a massive impact.
At this moment, his brain seemed to be electrified, with countless pieces of information boiling and flashing through his mind. Many previously overlooked details now churned restlessly, surfacing to his consciousness.
“I didn’t think before that the involvement of a Ritualist behind the Tax Silver Case was a suspicious point worth doubting… Could it be that the Tax Silver Case was aimed at me?”
Xu Qi An felt a chill run down his spine.
He reviewed the Xu family’s situation in the Tax Silver Case.
Xu Ping Zhi had failed to protect the silver, losing a total of 150,000 taels of white silver. Emperor Yuan Jing’s decree was: Xu Ping Zhi would be beheaded in public, and the male members of his three clans would be exiled to the frontier, while the women would be sent to the Imperial Brothel.
In other words, if he hadn’t transmigrated and hadn’t turned the tide by solving the Tax Silver Case, Xu Qi An’s fate would have been exile.
Exiled to the frontier, and then retrieve the luck within my body?
“I always thought that luck was reviving as my rank increased, picking up one qian at the ninth rank, three qian at the eighth rank, five qian at the seventh rank…
“Now that I think about it, that’s not the case at all. I started picking up silver after I got out of prison, but I was still in the Refining Essence realm then. So why didn’t the original Xu Qi An pick up silver?
“The fact is, the luck hidden in my body started to revive during that time, so the mastermind behind the scenes created the Tax Silver Case to ‘get’ me out of the capital.
“There’s a logical bug here. If they wanted to get me out of the capital, they didn’t need to go through all this trouble. They could have just kidnapped me. The Supervisor is stationed in the capital, and the mastermind behind the scenes didn’t dare to enter the capital, because any spell to conceal their presence would be ineffective against a First Rank Ritualist.
“But to kidnap a constable from Le An County, the mastermind BOSS didn’t need to act personally. They could have sent a few thugs to take me away.
“Unless… my unexplained disappearance would lead to some uncontrollable outcomes. So they had to use the Tax Silver Case to reasonably make me leave the capital?
“But I’m just an ordinary constable. If I disappeared, who would care? The same question remains, why is the luck on me…”
A flash of inspiration hit Xu Qi An as he recalled Li Na’s words, “Granny Tian Gu was extremely shocked and confused when she learned I was in the capital. I now know why the luck is on me.
“The luck stolen by the two thieves was secretly hidden on a newborn baby in the capital. According to normal thinking, when something is stolen, it’s taken away. How could it still be at home? This created a blind spot.
“Is this how the two thieves managed to deceive the First Rank Ritualist Supervisor?”
Xu Qi An pinched the bridge of his nose and summarized on the paper: “Why the luck is hidden on me, it might be a coincidence, or there might be another purpose, still uncertain.
“After my luck revived, the Supervisor noticed me and started to plan, viewing me as an important chess piece.
“The Ritualist who appeared in the Yunzhou case is very likely related to the mastermind behind the scenes…”
As he wrote this, Xu Qi An suddenly froze, a question flashing through his mind: In the Yunzhou case, I had already left the capital, out of the Supervisor’s range of vision, so why didn’t the mysterious Ritualist kidnap me?
This was another logical loophole.
He pressed his aching head, deciding not to think further. He would wait until his Primordial Spirit fully recovered before carefully reconsidering and reviewing everything.
Xu Qi An shifted his attention to the words “Gu God’s revival, end of the world.”
“The prophets of the Tian Gu Branch deduced that the Gu God will eventually revive and turn the world into a world of only Gu… That doesn’t make sense. Although the Gu God is a being beyond ranks, it’s not invincible.”
In the West, there’s the Buddha; in the Northeast, there’s the Shaman God; as well as a Daoist Patriarch whose whereabouts are unknown, and a Confucian Sage who claims to have passed away.
Setting aside the latter two, just with the Buddha and the Shaman God, defeating one Gu God shouldn’t be a problem, right?
“But the prophecy of the Tian Gu Branch can’t be false. This indicates that there are still secrets I don’t know. The Gu God is the only divine beast that survived from ancient times. I suddenly realized a key point: in ancient times, there must have been more than just one divine beast beyond ranks.
“So why is the Gu God the only one that survived in the end? Could this be the reason why the Gu God will bring about the end of the world? So, the former leader of the Tian Gu Branch, to keep the Gu God in slumber, chose to steal luck to suppress the Gu God…”
Xu Qi An’s eyes suddenly widened, as if thunder had struck beside his ears. A forgotten detail suddenly flashed in his mind.
Number Five, Li Na, had once mentioned in the book fragment that during the Gu Clan’s exploration of the Extreme Abyss, they discovered a statue of the Confucian Sage.
“The statue of the Confucian Sage is suspected to be suppressing the Gu God… The Confucian system is related to luck… Did that leader of the Tian Gu Clan draw inspiration from that statue in the Extreme Abyss, and thus plot to steal Da Feng’s luck?”
So… that’s how it is. Xu Qi An let out a long breath, feeling he had deduced part of the truth from back then.
“The former leader of the Tian Gu Tribe was trying to suppress the Gu God, but what about the mysterious Ritualist group? I can’t think anymore, my head hurts. Indeed, being an idiot is the happiest…” Xu Qi An mocked himself.
In the state of Primordial Spirit pain, he couldn’t sleep. Xu Qi An decided to go to the Night Watchmen’s Office to investigate the spark that ignited the Shanhai Pass Battle, as well as the files of the former Vice Minister of Revenue, Zhou Xian Ping.
Zhou Xian Ping had orchestrated the Tax Silver Case, and he must have had connections with the Ritualist of unknown origin.
Leaving his room, he saw Li Miao Zhen holding a porcelain bowl in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. The Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect snorted coldly:
“Why did you poke Su Su? Luckily, she’s just a paper person. If she were a proper lady…”
“Then I’d have to take responsibility for her?”
“No, I’d chop off your paws.”
“…”
Chop off my paws? My paws aren’t as strong as Monk Shen Shu’s, if they’re cut off, they can’t be reattached… Xu Qi An complained internally. Suddenly, he froze completely.
M-Monk Shen Shu? Was I able to return safely from Yunzhou because Monk Shen Shu was inside me? This made the mastermind behind the scenes wary, afraid to act directly for fear of Monk Shen Shu’s retaliation… Yes, when the mastermind was in Yunzhou, they must have observed me up close and discovered Monk Shen Shu’s presence within me.
The Supervisor had planned everything from the start. After seeing through my possession of luck, he began to scheme and plan, so he turned a blind eye to the remnants of the Myriad Beast Kingdom’s plot because he knew Monk Shen Shu would inevitably parasitize within me… Is this also the “bodyguard” he chose for me?
Through Monk Shen Shu, he firmly stabilized the luck within me, not letting the mastermind behind the scenes take it back…
“The Supervisor is too terrifying…” Xu Qi An shuddered.
He truly witnessed what it means for a wise man to lay out plans, like a snake in the grass.
Arriving at the front hall, he saw a figure in a yellow dress, the egg-faced, big-eyed little beauty Chu Cai Wei.
On the round table were various pastries, desserts, and meat dishes. It was probably enough for five or six strong men to eat their fill. Currently sitting at the table dealing with them were three females who appeared soft on the outside but had abnormal appetites.
Chu Cai Wei, Li Na, and Xu Ling Yin.
“Miss Chu Cai Wei, long time no see.” Xu Qi An greeted. This girl hadn’t appeared for how many chapters now? Ever since I got your Fifth Senior Sister, I’ve been thinking about breaking up with you.
The three females looked over simultaneously, their eyes hiding the instinct to protect food that’s imprinted in animal genes.
“I often come to the Xu residence, but you’re at the office during the day, so you don’t see me,” Chu Cai Wei responded, her cheeks puffed up as she chewed her food, her words muffled.
As for after dusk, being an unmarried girl, she certainly couldn’t stay at someone else’s house.
Li Na added, “Miss Cai Wei and I get along well.”
Xu Ling Yin shouted, “Me too, me too!”
Get along well? Is it getting along well in terms of being on the same level of intelligence, or in terms of being fellow foodies? Xu Qi An thought to himself. Seeing the three females so wary of him, he wisely didn’t enter the hall to ask for food.
Now, I only ate one chicken leg for lunch, and I even shared half with Xu Ling Yin… He left the Xu residence, mounted his beloved little mare, and clip-clopped off to the office.
The little mare was becoming increasingly magnificent, eating high-grade feed meant for warhorses every day, storing up energy, her coat glossy, her curves excellent.
Arriving at the Night Watchmen’s Office, Xu Qi An first returned to the “One Sword Hall” and instructed his subordinate Bronze Gongs to patrol the streets and not be lazy.
The subordinate Bronze Gongs sighed, “Boss, you work three days and slack off for two, and Yang Jin Gong doesn’t blame you. If it were us doing that, we’d have been fired long ago.”
Xu Qi An put on a stern face and said, “Stop talking nonsense, get to work.”
The Bronze Gongs weren’t afraid of him at all and joked around.
A Bronze Gong about seventeen years old timidly said, “Boss, I… I heard you’re a regular at the Imperial Brothel… I… I want to invite you to the Imperial Brothel tonight.”
The other Bronze Gongs laughed, “Boss, this kid wants you to show him the way. He’s still a virgin, just broke through to the Qi Refining realm at the end of last year and joined the office.”
Hearing this, Xu Qi An felt a bit ashamed. He hadn’t paid much attention to his subordinate Bronze Gongs.
“Alright, I’ll take you guys after work. It’s on me. Your measly salary isn’t enough to spend at the Imperial Brothel. Follow me, and you’ll freeload for life.”
Xu Qi An patted his shoulder.
The Bronze Gongs cheered, feeling they had followed the right person. There wasn’t a single Gold or Silver Gong in the office with their boss’s style.
Xu Qi An felt somewhat emotional. In this era that doesn’t advocate free love, people either have marriages arranged early by their families or can only patronize Imperial Brothels or brothels.
He couldn’t help but think of a brother he knew in his past life when he was studying. That brother had also given his first time to a similar woman. According to that brother, he was still a hot-blooded youth back then, carrying his suitcase to register at school.
It was noon at that time, and he was starving. As he left the train station, a woman came up to him and asked, “Want a quick meal?”
That day, his life entered a whole new stage.
He had grown up.
…
There was no file on former Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Xian Ping in the D-level archive. Xu Qi An found the relevant files in the B-level archive.
“Logically, the file level for a fallen corrupt Vice Minister of Revenue shouldn’t be this high…”
B-level archives were only accessible to Gold Gongs, but Xu Qi An’s status was so special that apart from the A-level archive which required Wei Yuan’s written permission, all materials in the B-level archive were completely open to him.
After reading Zhou Xian Ping’s file, Xu Qi An finally understood why it was a B-level archive.
“According to the office’s investigation, former Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Xian Ping had embezzled up to two million taels of silver over the past twenty years, but when his property was confiscated, only a few thousand taels were found. Where did all that silver go?
“Even if he indulged in sensual pleasures for twenty years, in this era of low prices, he damn well couldn’t have spent two million taels.
“Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Xian Ping died on the way to exile, most likely silenced.”
Xu Qi An looked at the file, speechless for a long time.
“The mastermind behind the scenes has some infiltration in the court, Zhou was their man, there’s no doubt about that. Besides Zhou, are there any other traitors? If so, who could they be?”
Closing the file, his spirit once again drained, he tiredly rubbed his temples, feeling unprecedented pressure.
“I can’t continue to muddle along like this anymore. All that time in brothels has wasted me. It turns out the Supervisor has been helping me fend off the surging undercurrents all along. My real situation is very bad.
“No matter who the opponent is, they will try to retrieve the luck within me. I can’t just sit and wait for death. Hmm, I also have some luck from the Imperial Seal inside me, which belongs to that Daoist from the Human Sect in the ancient tomb.
“Would he stand by and watch the mysterious Ritualist take away his luck? However, I can’t pin my hopes on an ancient human whose life or death is unknown.
“Let’s set a small goal first. Within two years, raised my noble rank by at least one level and gained more power. Although Da Feng’s national strength has weakened, it still has abundant talents, including the Supervisor, Wei Yuan, those cunning civil officials, and an army of millions. These are what I can rely on.
“The second goal, before the end of the year, is to advance to the Fourth Rank. Strength is my greatest asset. With strength, I can change from being a chess piece to a chess player.”
Whew… Xu Qi An let out a breath and called for a clerk, saying, “Bring me all the files on the Shanhai Pass Battle.”
The clerk brought a thick stack of materials.
Xu Qi An skimmed through them quickly, taking half an hour to finish reading. The files recorded that the spark that ignited the Shanhai Pass Battle was the southern and northern barbarian tribes conspiring to encroach on Da Feng’s territory.
Seeing the situation was unfavorable, Da Feng quickly called their big brother from the West, and together they defeated the southern and northern barbarian tribes.
But Xu Qi An knew things weren’t that simple, because in the Shanhai Pass Battle, there were traces of the Beast Clan and the Shaman God Sect. This was a melee that engulfed all forces across the Nine Provinces continent.
The opponents were: the southern and northern barbarian tribes, the northern Beast Clan, the remnants of the Myriad Beast Kingdom, and the Shaman God Sect.
Da Feng and Western Buddhism, in a 2v5, achieved victory.
This was like the World War I of the Nine Provinces, right? A war of such an enormous scale couldn’t have been without reason. Um… I guess World War I in my previous life started for no apparent reason either.
That’s not the point… Xu Qi An a self-deprecatingly thought.
“I’ve become stupid. For this kind of thing, I should just ask Dad directly. Why am I here racking my brains alone?”
After pondering for a long time, Xu Qi An slapped his forehead, gave up thinking, left the archive, and headed toward the Righteous Qi Tower.